LEITER FROM DOWNTOWN CROSS-DRESSER DREAMS How RuPaul a black man in a platinum wig and platform heels, captured the imagination of mainstream pop culture. BY GUY TREBAY RuPaul. "Every time I bat my eyelashes, it's a political act. " D EPENDING on who's doing the exag- gerating, RuPaul Andre Charles stands six feet five or six feet seven or six feet nine or seven feet tall. One of his oldest friends, a man who goes by the name of Lady Bunny, refers to RuPaul as "a six-foot-seven monster-model-woman thing." This, Lady Bunny invariably vL adds, is without heels and O?J ÔO hair. By my own calculations, RuPaul barefoot is about the same height as the Knicks shooting guard John Starks, but the confusion that attaches to him is easy enough to understand. RuPaul lends himself to all kinds of exaggeration, not least the height- fudging that basket- ball fans call "inching." When you're talking to RuPaul, it's not un- usual to find that you are eye level with the foam-:fi11ed, satin-cov- ered prow of his décolletage. His ward- robe, designed by the downtown designers Mathu and Zaldy, runs to what RuPaw calls "total glamour, total excess, total Vegas, total total." Almost everything about RuPaul runs to total total. Even when his celeb- rity was restricted to a small corner of downtown Manhattan where he per- formed in the guise of a fictitious blaxploitation legend called StarBooty, he was known as a fantastic creation, not only larger than legend but larger than Q anyone else in a room. Fully kitted out in a pair of wood-soled platform shoes, RuPaul was a towering presence, some- 2 where between the cartoon superwoman She- Ra and a float from the Thanksgiv- ing Day parade. Claiming that beauty knows no pain, he took a lithe and well- muscled man's form and, wIth the help of corsets, waist-cinchers, Ace bandages, foam rubber, Clinique, and Duo eyelash glue, turned it into that of a leggy, statuesque Las Vegas chorine. For years, he did this exclusively in clubs or at the annual drag celebration called Wigstock, but lately he's broadened his scope. When Monica Lynch, the president of Tommy Boy Records, which is primarily a rap label, was sent RuPaul's demo tape, in 1991, she immediately signed Ru- Paw, theorizing that "there weren't really any other drag-queen recording artists and we saw Ru- Paul filling a niche." Although that niche would be hard to define, there is no reason to doubt Lynch's instincts. Since RuPaul's "Supermodel (You Better Work!)" made Its début last November, at the designer Todd Old- ham's spring show- ing, it has become an immovable hard- core club hit, one of the videos most often asked for on The Box, a cable- television video- request channel, and a regular feature on MTV -a fact that in itself cowd make RuPaw the most fa- mous man in a dress since Milton Berle. Early this month, the song moved into the No.2 spot on Billboard's dance chart. As it happens, the tune that kept it from the No.1 spot was Whitney Houston's f " I ' E W " cover 0 m very oman. #i*'ClneR{ O VER the years it took RuPaul to become a fixture in certain parts of Manhattan, hIs fans cowd often find him performing at the Pyramid, or the 49 ,. ,:. ... ,: .. , ... :.;-: ".-., r \ .. , ""'" ......... ... ...... ... " -- .,J.. ". . .;:. , .. , . JOAN NELSON, WALLPAPER ND 560 Broadway New York 10012 (212) 966 5 1 54 Editions by Artists .t Wa 1tk REGIS . W . , .,., fX I" Þ. 'I#, '" \ SAN FRANCISCO Union Square Theatre District Bedrooms, Suites, Fireplace Rooms $95 to $'205 Complimentary Continental Breakfast La Scene Cafe & Bar For Reservations or Brochure 800-8'27-3447 Ceaty at Taylor, San Franasco, CA 94 t 02 HARD TO FIND SCREW DOWN HOOPS 7J#J I! - J. For unpierced ears or not. Solid! simple, tI 1).... sturdy, screwdown hoop earnngs. A ( \ welcome gift. 3 sizes available. Actual \ ' size I Spring City Craftsman / 190 N Main Spring City, Utah 84662 \::---- 1-800-262-6026 Sterling $20.00 pro 14k $68 00 pr., $3.00 s&h Me, Visa, Check, MO Fabulous Wooden Jigsaw Puzzles Breathtakingly beautiful, delightfully devious, filled with special shapes and surprises! Cut by hand and D ersonaliz ed just for you. Exceptional gifts! $150 and up. Call or write for free literature Hours: 8-5 M-f Lucretia's Pieces (802) 436-3006 RFD #1, Box 501.NY5 Windsor, VT 05089